Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-09-08

setlteu At Ollcelles.
"During the year l745, a dispute arose
with the Senecas, IN which several OF
the latter were killed. hut no general
warfare followed. This year, the Miamis
entered into conspiracy of Nicholas,
the distinguished Huron chief, who
resided at 'SandOsket on the the Bay
of that name. A plot was formed for a
general determination of the French
power In the West" But it signally
failed. Nicholas abandoned Sandusky
bay and removed west. During 1850
English traders were q second time
expelled from the Cuyahoga. A party
of French from Detroit built Fort
JunaHdet on Sandusky river. For the
above facts we are indebted to Mr..
Knapp's history.
There were vague accounts that Eng
lish traders were known on the Ohio as
early perhaps as 1870. In 1742 John
Howard crossed the mountains from
Virginia, descended the Ohio in skin
canoe and was taken prisoner by the
French on the Mississippi. Soon after
that, traders undoubtly began to flock
in from Virginia and Pennsylvania. In
I74S, Conrad Weiser, a German of
Herenberg, who had in early life acquir-
ed the Mohawk tongue by a residence
with that tribe, was sent on an embassy
to the Shawnees on the Ohio. Mr..
Weiser proceeded to 'LogstOwn,n a
Shawnee village on the north side of
the Ohio, about seventeen miles below
the site of Pittsburg, where he met the
chiefs of the tribe, delivered presents to
them and received assurance of their
support against the French.
CoLoNIZING COMPANIES.
Accordingly, after Weiser's conference
with the Indians at Logstown, which
was favorable to their Views, Thomas
Lee, with twelve other Virginians,
among whom were Lawrence and
Augustine Washington, brothers of
George Washington, and Mr.. Han
bury, of London, formed an association
called the "Ohio Company" Other
were formed about that time
in Virginia to colOnize the West. June
IL, 1749, a grant of 100000 acres from
the line of Canada on the north and
west was made to the "Loyal Com
pany," and upon the Goth of October,
1851 another grant of 100, 900 acres was
made to the Screen Briar Company
But the French were not entirely
blind. Having fears Ofdanger from the
British movements, Gallisoniere, the
Governor of Canada, determined to
place along the Ohio, evidences of the
French possession, and for that purpose
in the summer of 1749, sent Celeron
with a party of soldiers to place plates
of lead in the Ohio river on which were
written the claims of France, as already
alluded to. These plates were placed
Mt the mouths ofrivers. One was found
at the mouth of the Muskingum, and
another at Nenango, and elsewhere.
The principal ground of claim of the
British to the country west of the
Allegheny was by treaties of purchase
from the Iroquois, who claimed the
land by conquest from the other tribes;
OH this claim the Five Nations sold, in
treaty with the British authorities, all
the country on the Ohio, including
West Virginia and Kentucky, q large
part of Illinois, and the country along
the northern lakes and far into Canada.
In 1884, Lord Howard, Governor of
Virginia, held treaty with the Five
Nations at Albany, when at the request
of Col. DUNCAN, Governor of New
York, the Iroquois placed themselves
under the protection of the British
Nation. ("Plain Facts" Phila., PIP.
22-23.)
If the Iroquois had a good claim to
The Western country, the English were
Justified in defending that country
against the French, as France, by the
sreaty of Utrecht, had agreed not to
invade the lands of Britain's Indian
allies. The River of the Iroquois,"
which was q tacit acknowledgment of
The Iroquois' rights to it, and for long
time it was unexplored by the French
through fear of their hostility.
THE FINAL STRUGGLES.
. We pass on the consideration of the
no less stirring events connected with
the struggle between the French and
the English for the possession of this
great Northwestern Territory" they
were events of much importance, and
developed a host of heroes, many of
whom are worthy of more than mere
passing mention. 1t was a struggle be-
tween the Catholic and Protestant
faiths, in point of fact. BY the Bull of
Pope Alexander VI, all America had
been given to the Spaniards, but the
French had been as jealous in settling
the country, and their American do
main was much larger than that of
Spain. The French had established
their trading posts at points widely re-
mote from each other, but the English
settlements on the Atlantic slope were
growing in importance and numbers
and preparing to contest for the rich
prize lying in the great West. The
English also had the friendship of the
great Iroquois Confederacy which held
possession of the land on the southern
shores of these lakes. About the mid
die of the last century the English hav-
ing obtained several grants of land on
the eastern slopes of the Mississippi
valley from the IrOquois, by treaty, be-
gan to look forward to the full posses
sion of this territory, and to realize that
a great empire was soon to be won or
lost to them. -rf ~.
The main chain of the Alleghenies
was supposed to be impossible until in
17l4, when Governor Spottswood of
led an expedition to discover
hegreat valley beyond. He found a
pass in the mountains, somewhere near
the western boundary of Virginia, and
through it he passed and continued on
until he had reached the Ohio. On his
return he established the "Transmon-
tame Order" or knights of the Golden
On the sandy plains of
Virginia horse shoes had been rarely